Banding machine



July 7, 1953 Filed Dec. 27. 1951 c. w. GUNTER ETAL BANDING MACHINE `5 sheets-sheet 1 INVENTORS ATTORNEYS July 7, 1953 Filed Deo. 27. 1951 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEYS 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 4 C. W. GUNTER ETAL BANDING MACHINE HTTOR/YE'YS INVENTORS I wmer JIJ [gy Y' me1 MIE/bm?, d: 3 @m July 7, 1953 Filed Dec. 27'. 1951 5 Shecs-Sheerl 4 m T m V m IIIIIIIIII July 7, 1953v c. w. GUNTER ET AL BANDING MACHINE Filed Dec. 27. .1951

July 7, 1953 c. w. GUNTR ETAL BANDING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Shee-t 5 Filed Dec. 27. 1951 IN VENT ORS l @Kwaad Patented July 7, 1953 UNITED STATES BANDING MACHINE Coley Walton Gunter and James Walter Howe,

Jr., Durham, N. C., assiginorsy to Wright Machinery Company, Durham, N. C.,'a corporation of North Carolina Application December 27, 1951, Serial No. 263,624

5 Claims. (Cl. 226-80) This invention relates to banding machines and particularly to machines for applying shrinkable tubular bands about the neck and cap of a bottled product. apply such bands to bottles and the band, upon shrinking, forms a seal between thecap and bottle neck to protect the contents of the container. Commonly such bands consist of a tubular length of regenerated cellulose. Such material when wet expands to a considerably larger diameter rendering it easy tc slip the same over the neck and cap of a bottle. Upon drying the material shrinks and draws tightly about the lower portion of the cap and the bottle neck, con- Stituting an effective seal.

In general the machine of the present invention includes novel means for opening a short tubular length of the shrinkable material and to hold the same stationary, in opened condition, directly over the path of travel of a capped bottle. The mechanism for moving the bottle comprising novel elements mounted on a moveable carrier whereby the carrier may move continuously but the bottle carried thereon is caused to move upwardly to project its cap and neck -Ente the opened tubular element '-'fithcut appreciable movement in the direction of carrier travel during the projecting cycle. Novel means are also provided for holding the bottle in a predetermined position relative to the mechanisms carried by the turret and for releasing bottles therefrom at a discharge station.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a machine capable of unusually rapid handling of the bottles and applying bands thereto.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a high speed banding machine that is relatively simple in construction and economical to produce.

Another object of this invention is to provide a highspeed banding machine wherein a bottle Another object of this invention is to vprovide It is well known to a machine ofthe type described wherein the motion of a continuously moving carrier is employed to `project a bottle carried thereby-laterally of the direction of motion without moving itin that direction. l, l

A still further object of this invention is to provide, in a machine of the type described, clamping means for the bottle bearing a novel relationship to the clamp operating mechanisms.

Still further objects and advantages will become apparent to those skilled in the art as the description proceeds in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational View of a machine constructed in accordance with the present invention, the base portion thereof and a portion of a side wall being broken away;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of that portion of the machine shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of a portion of the machine shown in Figs. 1 and 2 taken but not shown in the drawings.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary sectional View taken substantially along the line 5-5 of Fig. 3; e

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary section-a1 view taken substantially along the line 6--6 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. '7 is a view similar to Fig. 6 but showing the parts in different relationship.

Referring first to Figs. 1 and 2, the machine comprises generally a base structure 2 having thereon a rotatable turret Il driven in rotation about a vertical axis by'a main shaft 6 from a suitable source of power housed within the base 2 The articles to be handled may comprise bottles A havingscrew or other caps thereon. Such articles may be fed into the device by an infeed conveyor 8. A star wheel Hl, driven in timed relation to the turret 4 operates to space and feed bottles in sequence along a guide rail ll to successive platforms I2 and clamping means |62 mounted in spaced relation on the turret 4. Bottles thus fed to the turret are carried thereby past va fixed station,

designated generally by letter B in Fig. 2 where mechanism to be described later causes the platforms l2 and clamps |62 to rise vertically withe out forward movement to project the bottles into an opened band. The platform is then released for downward movement andthe band thereon is released by the holding means to thereafter move with the bottle until the latter arrives at a discharge station C where the clamping means are released land a guide rail I6 `and discharge Y 3 sweeping whee1 i8 remove successive bottles from the turret and deliver them to a take-away conveyor 20.

The tubular material is supplied to the machine in the form of a continuous and elongated flattened tube 24 wound on a reel or the like and kept in a tank (not shown) of suitable liquid material such as a formaldehyde and glycerine solution or formaldehyde and water. The purpose in keeping the tubular material immersed in the liquid is to keep it in an expanded condi'- tion to facilitate its application to a bottle neck. The material of the tube and the manner of keeping it soaked to expanded condition is a well known feature of the prior art and need not be discussed in greater detail. The tubular material on the reel is led from the tank and trained over suitable guide means to extend to guide roller 22 (see Figs. l and 2)v near the top of the machine. From there the continuous tube24 is trained downwardly into a feeding and cutting mechanism designated generallyY at 25 in Fig. l. The feeding and cutting mechanism per se forms no part of the present invention and is described in detail and claimed in co-pending application Serial No. 99,464, filed on June 6, 1949 by Andrew O. Russell, Michael G. Jones and William W. Watts. In general, the cutter mechanism is operated in timed relation to the rotation of the turret 4 by means of a main cutter shaft 28, driven from the same source of power as that employed to rotate the turret Il and the wheels lil and I8. The shaft 23 actuates mechanism for feeding predetermined lengths of tubular material to a cutting knife shown schematically at 36 in Fig. 6. The knife is operated in timed relation to the rest of the mechanism to sever the end of the tube 24 into predetermined lengths. The mechanism up to this point is fully covered and described in the copending application referred to.

A novel feature of the present invention includes the means for gripping and spreading the severed end portion 32 (Fig. 6) of the tubular material 2li. This mechanism is driven by the shaft 23. A pair of brackets 34 (Fig. l) attached to the sides of the cutter mechanism 25 extend therebelow and yacross the bottom of that cutter mechanism on opposite sides ofthe shaft 28. Referring now particularly to Figs. 3, 4 and 5, the brackets Sil support a guide frame comprising a lower fixed plate 36, an intermediate fixed plate 38 and a fixed top plate 4t. Longitudinally extending spacer strips 42 (Fig. 5) are interposed between the edges of the plates 35, S8 and 4Q thus defining elongated guideways between the plates and spacers. Suitable fastening means such as rivets 44 may be employed to hold the guide members in fixed assembled relationship. The space between plates 38 and 49 serves to guide an upper slidable plate 46 for longitudinal movement in the frame and the space between plates 35 and 38 serves as a guide for a second or lower slidable plate @8. A fixed pin 553 extends vertically throughV the guide plates adjacent one end of the guide structure and constitutes a pivot for a transverse lever 52 operating in a cut-away portion 54 of the intermediate guide plate 3B. One end of the transverse lever 52 is provided on its underside'with a roller 56 extending down- 4 provided with longitudinally extending slots S4 and 66 through which stationary pin iiil extends, thus permitting the plates to slide longitudinally of the frame structure without interference from pin 59. It will be apparent from a study of Figs. 3, 4 and 5 that the transverse lever 52 will enforce the top plate l5 to move to the left as seen in Fig. 4 when the bottom plate #it is caused to move to the right. In other words the lever 52 and related elements forces the plates 46 and 4% to reciprocate in opposite directions. The lower sliding plate d is provided with a cam following roller BS projecting downwardly therefrom and through an elongated slot it in the lowermost guide plate Se. A grooved cam l? is fixed to the shaft 28, such as by set screws ifior the like, and is provided with a cam groove it in its uppermost face. As clearly seen in Fig. 8, the cam groove 'i6 is a simple circular groove concentric to shaft 'i8 throughout the major portion'of its periphery but is provided with a'portion 'i3 nearer to the shaft 28 than the remainder of the groove. As will be obvious, rotation of the cam 72 will hold the lowermost slidable plate 4S in its left-hand position as seen in Fig. 4 for most of each revolution of the cam will move that plate to the right, then back again to the left, for a purpose to be described, once during each revolution. It is to be remembered that all reciprocatory movements of the plate 43 produce an equal and opposite reciprocation of the upper slidable plate 15. The frame plates 35, 'and itl are provided with aligned openings through which shaft 28 passes to extend into and drive the cutter mechanism. The

slidable plates t and 4B are provided with longi- Y tudinally extending slots 39 and S2 respectively, through which the shaft 28 also passes. The elongated slots 8B and 82 permit reciprocatory movement of the plates 46 and 48 without interference` from shaft Z3.

The uppermost sliding plate #it extends a subk stantial distance to the right beyond the end of the guide structure therefor and is cut away as at 8s (Fig. 3) to provide a notch extending inwardly from one edge of the plate, said not-ch being of substantial longitudinal dimension, materially greater'than the extent of reciprocation of the plates. The notch 84 is cut into an edge of plate 46 adjacent but spaced from theextreme end of the plate, thus providing a transverse bar or support 8% at the outermost end of the plate 45. The support portion 3S has a suction head 88 mounted thereon. The suction head 83 rmay be of any usual or conventional design and is carried with the portion t6 of plate i6 in its reciprocatory movements. A suitable flexible tube or conduit 90 (see Figs. l, 2 and 4) connects the suction head 88 to a source of vacuum, to be described later. A second suction head 92 is mounted on the right-hand extremity of thelowermost sliding plate 48 and extends up- Y wardly therefrom, at all times within the-notch 84, to a position opposite the suction head 88. The suction head 92 is connected to the source of vacuum by means of a flexible conduit or tube 94.

It will be seen that as the plates 46 and 4B are periodically reciprooated, the suction heads 88 and 92 are brought together momentarily, then separated to and held in the relative positions shown in Fig. 4. The mechanism is so timed that the suction heads 88 and 92 are brought together as the knife 3i) severs the end portion 32 of tubular material 24 and at that time a control valve is operated in timed relation tothe cutter mechanism to evacuate the suction heads thus firmly gripping opposite sides of the tubular material 32. The suction heads are maintained in communication with the-source of vacuum while the plates @E andt are reciprocated to move the suction heads apart and the suction heads thus effect opening of the tubular material by pulling opposed walls apart to an extent sufficient to receive the bottle cap and neck portion of a bottle. tion head mechanism is so positioned relative to the turret ffl that the opened tube 32 is held stationary directly above the of travel of the bottles A.Y The conduits or tubes si? and lfl are preferably of a flexible nature whereby the ends connected to the suction head may readily niove therewith while the other ends thereof may be connected to a suitable fixture @t (Fig. 1) whereby both tubes are in communication with the passages of a valve Sii. Suitable operating mechanism Hill for the valve St is actuated by a movable part of the cutter mechanism (not shown) to admit and cut o vacuum from the suction heads in timed relation to movement of the sliding plates l and 48. A conduit It? may connect the valve QS to a suitable vacuum pump (not shown) in the base of the machine. A second conduit |94 may supply vacuum to other portions of the cutter mechanism, with which the present application .is not concerned.

As shown in Fig. 3 the turret il rotates in a clockwise direction, as indicated by the arrow,

and it is to be noted that the notch sli in plate.

56 is opened to the side thereof in which the capped bottles move after passing the banding station, After a Vbottle has been lifted and projected into the expanded band c2 the valve Sii is operated to cut olf the vacuum from the suction heads 92 and 88 and to thus release the band 32 for movement with bottle A. yThe bottle is simultaneously released for movement with the turret 4 in the direction of movement of the turret and for lowering movement relative thereto, all as to be described in detail later. After the band 32 is released by suction heads d and Q2 the bottle and band immediately start moving with the turret l through the open side of the notch 84, permitting the bottle and band to move laterally away from the suction heads without interference from any portion of the sliding plates lit or 48.

Reference will now be made to Figs. 3, Li, 6, and 7. The turret l is provided with a plurality oi' circumferentially spaced openings lill arranged to receive the lowerznost portions of the platforms l2 on which bottles A are carried. The platforms l2 may comprise an upper plate member and a lower or supporting plate l l2 adapted to extend into the openings il while the upper plates I2 overlie the edges of the opening to there-V by limit the downward movement of the platforms relative to the turret. Each of the plates H2 has welded or otherwise affixed thereto a downwardly and forwardly extending U-shaped guide plate lid. The guide plates Hli are, as stated, of generally U-shape with the base of the U portion being ailixed to the plate H2 and the spaced legs thereof extending downwardly and forwardly in the direction of movement of the turret rl. The turret 4i is provided with brackets vili fixed to the undersurface thereof adjacent the leading edges of openings l it and each of the brackets l l t is provided with rearwardly and vertically extending spaced guide plates (see The sliding plate and sucparticularly Fig. 4),.A Elach of the p1ates-||8 is provided on its inner face with a guide groove l2@ extending parallel to the direction of extent of the U-shaped plate Hl and directly opposite the edges of plates IM. The outer edges of the legs of each plate H4; are provided with a series of aligned rollers l|22 extending into the guide grooves or trackways IZll. It isapparent that the rollers |22 function to supportthe plates klill and platforms l2 on turret l for sliding movement upwardly and rearwardly of the direction of motion of the turret. Each of the platesv |8 may be provided with a suitable stud |263 having one end of a tension spring 25 connected thereto and to the ends of the legs of plates il@ whereby to urge the platforms l2 to their lowermost and forward positions. Clearly the platforms. may be raised by movement of rollers |22 in grooves I2@ against the action of springs |26. Since all of the platform lifting means are identical only one will be described in detail. A transverse pivot pin 42d extends between the legs of the U-shaped platev Il@ adjacent the upper ends of those legs. Links |39, of which there are two, are each pivoted at one end about the pin E23 between the downwardly and forwardly extending legs of the U-shaped plate lll. rlhe links lilo carry a transverse pivot pin |32 at their lowermost ends. A cam following roller ld is rotatably mounted on the pin i552 between the lower ends of links |36. Links lli, of which there are two, are pivoted at one end to a bracketv will cause the links ist to swing upwardly about their p-ivotal connection to brackets ist.

A portion of the base frame of the machine, as indicated at Hill, has iixedly mounted thereon a cam element |42. Preferably the cam element m2 is arcuate in plan view so that its upwardly extending edge lies directly in the path of movement of the rollers |315. The cam element itil is provided with a riser edge bis extending upwardly and slightly forwardly with respect to the direction of movement of the turret, to a crest Ult then downwardly at a relatively gradual inclination to define a cam edge ltd. The cam element |42 is so positioned on the frame that the roller i3d rst contacts the riser portion Mill. of the cam at the time a bottle A arrives at a position substantially directly below an opened tubular section 32A of the shrinkable material. The operation of the mechanism is so timed that successive tubular sections 322 are opened and held in opened position at the time each successive bottle arrives at a position directly therebelow. The conditions existing at this time arer illustrated in Fig. 5. It is to be remembered that with the parts in the relationship shown in Fig. 6 the turret Il, guide plates lll, links |36 and |30 and roller itil are moving toward the left at a uniform rate of speed. As the roller i3d contacts the riser surface |44 of cam M2 the forward motion of the roller is stopped and it tends to move to the right and upwardly relative to the turret li. The upward swinging movement of link 536 and roller |36, by pushing on linkli, causes the U-shaped plate lill and platform l2 to slide upwardly and rearwardly relative .to the turret l to the position shown in Fig. 7. It will' be seen that the opening ll in'Fig. 7 is in a position tothe left, relative to the cam |42, of y its position'shown in Fig. 6. The angle of inclination of the guide grooves |26 and the angle of inclination of the riser surface It@ of cam |52 are so selected and related to the lengths of links |36 and |36 that movement of the platforms |2 in an upwardly and rearwardly direction relative to the turret 4 is such that the bottles A rise substantially exactly vertically relative to any xed portion of the frame, fromthe position of Fig. 6 to the position of Fig. 7. By properly positioning the cam |512 relative to the position of the suction heads 88 and 92 the bottle is caused to move upwardly along a vertical axis extending centrally through the open tube 32 and to such an extent that the bottle cap and a portion of the bottle neck are moved upwardly into the tube of shrinkable material, as shown in Fig. 7.

As the turret 4 continues to move to the left ,from a position shown in Fig. 7 the roller |3|| passes over the crest |116 of the cam and starts down the gradual incline M8 under the influence of gravity and springs |26. It will be apparent that downward movement of the roller |34 permits the platform and plate |||l to start moving downwardly along the guideways |29 and thus move forwardly in the direction of the turret at a greater rate of horizontal speed and to also move downwardly relative to turret li. At the time the roller |34 reaches the crest |46 of cam |42 the cutter mechanism operates valve 98 to release the vacuum from suction heads 33 and 92 and thus drop the tube 32 onto the bottle. The bottlemay then move to the left as shown in Fig. 7 and carry the tube 32 therewith outwardly of the open side of the notch gli in plate 46. As soon as the roller |34 moves beyond the inuence of cam |42 the platforms l2 are in their lowermost position as shown in Fig. 6 and f they remain in that position until they again come around to the banding station just described and the described cycle is then repeated.

Referring now to Figs. 2, 3 and 4, each platform I2 is shown as provided with a pair of upstanding pivot pins |60. Each pivot pin |66 pivotally supports a bottle holding clamp jaw |62. A tension spring |54 is connected to each of the jaws |62 and urges those jaws into bottle clamping position. Furthermore, each of the jaws |62 is provided with a toothed portion IE6 (see Figs. 3` and 4) whereby the jaws are caused to move in equal amounts about their respective pivot pins and to always come together to clamp and hold a bottle in a predetermined central position on the platform I2. One of the clamping jaws on each platform is provided rwith an inward extension |68 having a cam following roller |12 on its upper surface. A xed cam |12 (see Fig. 2) is supported in fixed position relative to the` frame to extend substantially from the discharge station C to the loading station dened by the Y star wheel I0. The cam |12 may be xedly supported relative to the frame in any suitable manner and is provided with a cam edge portion |14 extending into the path of movement of the rollers |10. It will be apparent from Fig. 2 that as each banded bottle and its platform I2 arrive at the discharge station, the roller |16 will engage cam edge |14 to swing the clamping jaws |62 to open position and thus release the bottle on that platform to the action of the discharge sweep |8. The clamping jaws are held, by cam edge |14, in open position until the successive platforms arrive at the loading station and a bottle A deposited thereon. At that time the rollers |10 pass olf .the cam edge |14 and springs |64 cause the jaws to center the bottle on the platform and hold it rmly in that position. Shortly thereafter the bottle and its platform arrive at the banding station at which an open band 32 is being held and the mechanism of Figs. 6 and 7 operates to lift the bottle and platform along with the clamping means upwardly to project the bottle and neck into theopened band in the manner described. By the described arrangement applicant employs clamping jaws engageable with a stationary cam and wherein the clamping jaws are carried by a vertically moveable supporting structure. By employing a short xed cam |12 the cam is positionedvin the path of movementof'the rollers |10 during those portions of the cycle when it is desired to operate the clamping jaws but the rollers |10 arefree to then move vertically at the banding station without interference from any part of the cam or other structures.

As shown in Figs. 4, 6,'and 7 each of the clamping jaws |62 is provided with a recess |80 at the edge adjacent the companion clamping jaws. The recesses complement each other, when the jaws are in closed position, to form an opening slightly greater than the diameter of the bottles being handled. A block or blocks |82 of suitable resilient material is fixed to the upper surface of each clamping yjaw |52 and the resilient blocks |82 are provided with complementary openings in their adjacent edges of such size as to snugly embrace the sides of the bottles A when the jaws are in closed-position. The resilient blocks thus hold the blocks properly positioned on the platform without danger of breaking the bottles when springs |62 move the clamping jaws to closed position.

The machine described herein is obviously capable of unusually high speeds of operation since it is not necssary to start and stop massive components. All of the heavy portions of the machine move at a uniform and constant rate without the production of high acceleration forces. The only parts movable intermittently in such manner as to produce acceleration forces are the relatively small platforms and the structures fixed thereto. The acceleration of those elements is in a direction transverse to the direction of movement of the turret and the cam |42 and links |36 and |36 may be so designed as to minimize shocks due to acceleration.

If desired, a suitable counting mechanism |82 (see Fig. 2) may be attached to the machine of the present invention to indicate the number of bottles processed. y

While a single specific embodiment of the invention has been shown and described herein it' will be obvious to those skilled in the art that many departures from the described details may be made within the spirit of the invention. The described embodiment is intended as illustrative only, the invention embodying all other modifications falling fairly within the scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

l. In a machine for applying tubular bands to an article; band spreading and holding means comprising, a pair of elongated superposed plates, means guiding said plates for longitudinal reciprocation along parallel paths, one of said plates having a notch in one longitudinal edge thereof adjacent to but spaced from one end thereof, a suction head on said one end adjacent said notch, a second suction head on the end of the other plate adjacent said notch, the path of reciprocation of said second suction head being at all times within the connes of said notch whereby said notch provides an unobstructed passagewayfor the article from between said suction heads toward and extending outwardly of an edge of said plates. i

2. A device as described in claim 1 wherein the ends of said plates supporting said suction heads project longitudinally beyond said guiding means.

3. A device as described in claim l including means for simultaneously reciprocating said plates and suction heads in opposite directions.

4. A device as described in claim 1 including a lever pivoted intermediate its ends on a fixed axis, each end of said lever being connected to one of said plates, and means for reciprocating one of saidplates.

5. A device as described in claim 1 including a lever between said plates and pivoted at its mid point on a fixed axis, one end of said lever having a pin-and-slot connection with one of 10 said plates and the other end thereof having a pin-and-slot connection with the other of said plates, a longitudinal slot through each of said '5 .plates in such position that portions thereof are at all times superimposed, a shaft extending through said slots, a cam on said shaft adjacent one of said plates, andcam'follower means on said one of said plates, engageable with said cam j whereby said one plate is reciprocated by said cam upon rotation of said shaft.

COLEY WAL'I'ON GNTER. JAMES WALTER HOWE, JR.

References oued in the nie of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Rose Jan. 29, 1952 

